Category: In The News

The 112 members recently elevated to the AIA College of Fellows include New Yorkers Kenneth Drucker, FAIA; Belmont Freeman, FAIA; Christopher Grabé, FAIA; John Grady, FAIA; Robert Heintges, FAIA; Frank Lupo, FAIA; Joanna Pestka, FAIA; Annabelle Selldorf, FAIA; and Sylvia Smith, FAIA. There will be a Fellows Reception held at the Center for Architecture 03.12 to celebrate… Venesa Alicea, Assoc. AIA, LEED AP, has received the AIA Associates Award…

The eight recipients of the 2009 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards include C.V. Starr East Asian Library, University of California Berkeley, Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects; Chongqing Library, Perkins Eastman; Biblioteca Central Estatal Wigberto Jiménez Moreno, Pei Partnership Architects; NYPL Francis Martin Library, 1100 Architect; and Minneapolis Central Library, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects… The Travel + Leisure Design 2009 Awards winners include, in the category of Best Restaurant, Delicatessan by Nema Workshop and Mark Thomas Amadeii; Best Public Space, TKTS Booth, designed by Perkins Eastman, concept by Choi Ropiha; and Best Retail Space, Puma City, by LOT-EK…

Jaros Baum & Bolles is a finalist in the American Council of Engineering Companies’ 43rd annual Engineering Excellence Awards competition for designing the mechanical and electrical systems for the Bank of America Tower at One Bryant Park in New York City… The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) announced a new initiative, the New York Energy $mart Focus on Colleges and Universities, and EYP was selected to assist in developing programmatic outreach strategies…

Lower East Side Tenement Museum will host a fundraiser honoring three individuals whose work has had a remarkable impact on the organization: Gary Handel, AIA, Bradford Perkins, FAIA, and Enrique Norten, Hon. FAIA…

The Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) has awarded its 2008 MPA Digital Award for “Website of the Year: Enthusiast” to McGraw-Hill Construction’s ArchRecord.com… David M. Childs, FAIA, has been named Chairman of the Municipal Art Society of New York…

Lenore Janis, president of Professional Women in Construction (PWC), has announced the establishment of the Gwendolyn Colbert Kushner Memorial Scholarship in memory of Kushner… Rafael Viñoly Architects has awarded four independent Research Fellowships for 2009: The Transformation of Squatter Settlements Into Urban Neighborhoods; Investigation of Relief Efforts After the 2004 Tsunami in the Worst Hit Region of Aceh, Indonesia, and Propose Guidelines for Future Efforts; The Performance of Large-Scale Urban Projects in Bogotá , Colombia; and Housing in China, Exploring Steps Toward a Solution…

Jay Berman, AIA, Michael Bischoff, AIA, and Jose Bruguera, AIA, were promoted as Partners within Pei Cobb Freed…CetraRuddy announced that Emmanuelle Chammah-Slossberg is the new Director of Strategic Development… Joseph Montalbano, AIA, LEED AP, has joined Mancini Duffy as a Senior Associate… The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards Executive Vice President Lenore M. Lucey, FAIA, announced a planned transition of leadership effective 07.01.11…

2009 Oculus Editorial Calendar
If you are an architect by training or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, note that OCULUS editors want to hear from you! Projects/topics may be anywhere, but architects must be New York-based. The themes:

Spring Issue: Elevating Architecture / Design Literacy for All. Closed.

Summer Issue: AIANY 2009 Design Awards and AIANY/BSA Biennial Design Type Awards. Closed.

Fall Issue: Carbon Neutral Now. The new green frontier, carbon neutrality, researched, explored, planned, and designed at all scales by New York architects.
06.01.09: Suggestion Deadline

Winter Issue: Health & Architecture. Architecture designed to promote fitness, health, and wellness will be profiled. Projects selected from within this growing field will demonstrate sensitivity to generational and demographic issues, sustainability, and technology.
08.01.09: Suggestion Deadline

If you have suggestions, please contact OCULUS editor-in-chief Kristen Richards.

03.18.09 Call for Entries: Project Earth Day Student Competition
The third annual Project Earth Day Student Competition will explore where fashion collides with architecture. Students are challenged to suspend their disbelief, play with scale and proportion, and design a garment inspired by a reevaluation of anything in their environment. On 04.23.09, the chosen looks will make their debut on the Project Earth Day runway and be judged by a panel of celebrities and top professionals in the design industry.

03.20.09 Call for Entries: Form Shift Vancouver
The Architectural Institute of British Columbia and the City of Vancouver are jointly-sponsoring an open ideas competition. The City of Vancouver has developed Climate Change Action Plans as well as the EcoDensity Charter. Vancouver was the first city in Canada to adopt The 2030 Challenge for green house gas reduction as part of their effort to become “the greenest city in the world”. FormShift Vancouver challenges entrants to give shape to these goals through ideas and design solutions that will help shape the future of the city.

03.31.09 Call for Submissions: FIGMENT City of Dreams Mini Golf Submissions
FIGMENT is looking for artists, architects, and sculptors to create one-of-a-kind mini-golf holes on Governors Island. This is not your typical golf course, but rather the City of Dreams Mini-Golf Course, designed to free mini-golf from the windmill and dinosaur set and allow artists to release their creativity in a forum usually more associated with tourist traps.

04.06.09 Call for Nominations: New York Designs 2009: Public
This juried lecture series provides a forum for the presentation of innovative and accomplished work built in New York City. This year’s theme, Public, asks how designers think about and define “public” today; and how designers imagine buildings, landscapes, and urban places that aspire to be for the public.

04.23.09 Call for Entries: National Award for Smart Growth Achievement
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is accepting applications from
public-sector or private sector applicants that have used the principles of smart growth to create better places. This year, applications will be accepted in five categories: Built Projects, Policies and Regulations, Smart Growth and Green Building, Smart Growth Streets, and Overall Excellence in Smart Growth. The public sector winners will receive support for further implementing smart growth strategies in their communities. In addition, public sector winners will receive one complementary registration to the New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in 2010.

The South Bronx holds 40% of NYC’s waste, 100% of the Bronx’s waste, four electrical power plants, a sewage treatment plant, a sewage pelletizing plant, and sees more than 60,000 trucks pass through daily. These statistics, presented by Sustainable South Bronx (SSBx) Founder and Majora Carter Group President Majora Carter at a recent talk at the Museum of the City of New York, brought to light for me the importance of thinking holistically when it comes to sustainable design.

“No community should harbor the burden of environmental waste while not getting any benefit from sustainability,” Carter argued, adding that if dumping grounds were placed in wealthy neighborhoods there would be no need to go green. Those communities would have found a way to keep their districts clean long ago.

By spreading both the wealth and the burden, the whole nation could potentially lower its emissions and perhaps improve the overall state of the environment. Currently, Carter is proposing to use the national grid to harvest sun and wind (“it is always sunny and windy somewhere in the nation”), and deliver green energy throughout the country, preferably via highways to avoid disrupting existing communities. I can see how remote towns would be directly connected with major cities; the coasts would be able to use inland resources usually unavailable to them, and vice versa. Instead of politics, nature could unify the U.S.

Whether it is with PlaNYC or the stimulus package, we need to start thinking beyond specific proposals and individual communities. Sustainable planning in a larger, global sense would create environmental justice — by improving the environment, creating jobs, and educating the nation — unparalleled to what we have seen before. Carter praised President Obama’s ideals, but claimed it is the responsibility of the nation to get involved with changing the world. She ended her talk with an Obama acronym that speaks beyond the man and to our future actions: “Officially Behaving as Magnificent Americans.”

In this issue:
· The Bronx is Up With a New Mixed-Use Development
· Jewish Braille Institute Reveals NY Headquarters
· Three Becomes One for New Housing in Brooklyn Historic District
· Green Design to Revitalize New Brunswick
· The Beacon Shines Once Again

The Bronx is Up With a New Mixed-Use Development

Fordham Place.

GreenbergFarrow

The recently opened Fordham Place, designed by GreenbergFarrow, is the first new mixed-use development in the Bronx in more than 15 years and the first Class A office building to be built in the borough in over 20 years. The 276,475-square-foot retail and office complex, developed by Acadia Realty Trust and its partner PA Associates, is located opposite Fordham University. Maintaining and reusing as much of the existing structure as possible, the design adds a total of approximately 90,000 square feet to the property’s first six floors. Other upgrades include an expanded cellar, and the relocation of the loading dock, which was replaced by a two- to five-story glass structure serving as an entrance to the upper-level retailers.

Jewish Braille Institute Reveals NY Headquarters

JBI International.

Fink & Platt Architects

JBI International, established in 1931 as the non-profit Jewish Braille Institute that provides blind and visually impaired readers with literature in audio, large print, and Braille, has recently opened a 20,000-square-foot facility in midtown Manhattan. Designed by Fink & Platt Architects, the new JBI Library includes a complete renovation of the organization’s existing 17,500-square-foot, seven-story building, a two-story, 2,500-square-foot addition, and a new curtain wall and storefront to replace the failing masonry façade. The library includes a digital recording studio, post-production and circulation departments, high-efficiency archival media storage, executive offices, meeting rooms, staff lounge, roof garden, and tenant rental space. Fink & Platt established a strong visual identity for the space through color, materials, and graphics. Graphic design firm Whitehouse & Company created a Braille map for the lobby and custom wallpaper that communicate the mission of the organization. The project was partially funded by the NYC Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).

Three Becomes One for New Housing in Brooklyn Historic District

Old Fulton Street Apartments.

Fifield Piaker Elman Architects

Three adjoining Greek Revival commercial structures built from 1836-1839 in Brooklyn’s Fulton Ferry Historic District in Dumbo will be transformed into a 15-unit apartment building with retail on the ground floor. Designed by Fifield Piaker Elman Architects for Northside Development, the buildings’ façades will be restored. Internally, the units will be united by replacing the original structural columns and floor joists with a new steel frame allowing for clear spans between bearing walls. The new brick rear façade will feature punched window openings with double-hung windows compatible with the historic front façade. The penthouse addition, which will be set back, has a sloped upper façade so that it will be barely visible from the street, and won’t detract from the building’s architectural character. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved the plans for the buildings, and the project is scheduled to be completed in early 2010.

Green Design to Revitalize New Brunswick

Hiram Square Condominium.

Tarantino Architect

Lawrence and Sharon Tarantino, of NJ-based Tarantino Architect, have teamed with the owners of the Frog and The Peach Restaurant at Hiram Square in downtown New Brunswick to design and develop a multi-unit, sustainable residential condominium adjoining the restaurant. The restaurateurs, Jim Black and Betsy Alger, have a background in environmental design and horticulture, which may account for the fact that the project contains a green roof for growing herbs for the restaurant and beehives for honey production. Other green features include renewable solar energy collection, geothermal heat systems, recycled building materials, on-site wind power and a solar veil. The one- and two-bedroom units will contain private green spaces with outdoor accessibility, radiant heating, sustainable interior finishes, and renewable materials. Green amenities include Smart Car Zip Car service, and culinary amenities include a “Take Home Chef.” The project is part of the vision for revitalizing New Brunswick and the riverfront, and aspires to be the first residential project in the city to receive a LEED-Platinum certification.

The Beacon Shines Once Again
Following a seven-month, $16 million restoration, the 2,800-seat landmark Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side reopened this month. The 1927 theater was designed by architect Walter Ahlschlager in a mix of styles including Greek, Roman, Renaissance, and Rococo. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners headed-up the comprehensive restoration project that focused on all historic interior public spaces, backstage, and back-of-house areas, and was based on extensive research and on-site examination of original, decorative painting techniques. Restoration elements range from historic finishes in the lobbies, to custom patterned carpet based on the original designs, and the original 30-foot-high Venetian-inspired chandelier. Over the course of the restoration process, more than 1,000 artisans, craftsmen, and tradesmen worked on the project.

With no operating money for the island in Governor Paterson’s proposed budget and no new capital money in sight, the Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation (GIPEC) is preparing to shut down the island, unless the state legislature can push through funding, which the city will match. Governors Island Alliance (GIA) members are meeting with legislative leaders on February 27, launching a postcard drive to the Governor, Mayor, and legislators, planning a press conference, and testifying at hearings. “Being the eternal optimist, I am hopeful that we will indeed have a summer season on the Island and the historic district will be protected,” says GIA executive director Rob Pirani. “But it’s going to take all of us to see this happen.” Click here to send a “Keep the Island Afloat” postcard to the Governor.

Nine firms were selected out of 40 to be a part of the 2009 Center for Architecture Exhibition Design Shortlist — Open Call: Architecture in Formation, Evidence Design, G TECTS, Incorporated Architecture + Design, Leven Betts, Lyn Rice Architects, MATTER, Moorhead & Moorhead, and nARCHITECTS…

The Interior Design Department at FIT announced that Gaetano Pesce is the 2009 Lawrence Israel Prize honoree…

NY-based winners of the 2008 International Design Awards competition Professional First Place Awards include, in the following categories: Landscape, WXY Architecture + Urban Design for The Battery Bosque & Carousel; Urban Design, Rogers Marvel Architects for Battery Park City Streetscapes; Renovation, Jonathan Kirschenfeld Associates for Floating Pool; Renovation, Taryn Christoff, Martin Finio, AIA, Jeff Hong, Chris Mechaley, Mac Patoulas, John Szot, and Vicky Yuan for The Heckscher Foundation… Mancini Duffy also won an award in the Annual Reports category for “Mancini Duffy’s Year in Review”…

The Alliance for Downtown New York has selected Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners and FXFOWLE Architects to study street-level conditions, and implement a planning and design study of Water Street… The Illuminating Engineering Society of NYC will announce the results of their Ninth Annual NYC Student Lighting Competition and mark the opening of the Audible Light Exhibition on 03.04.09 with a keynote address by Linnaea Tillett, PhD…

George Melas, AIA, LEED AP, has been named a Senior Vice President at Syska Hennessy Group, Inc… Gerner Kronick + Valcarcel Architects (GKV) appointed Benita Welch, AIA, and Joseph Barbagallo, AIA, as Principals… Poulin + Morris has named Brian Brindisi a Principal of the firm… BBG-BBGM named Roderick A. Petschauer and Ronda McCrea Principals.

2009 Oculus Editorial Calendar
If you are an architect by training or see yourself as an astute observer of New York’s architectural and planning scene, note that OCULUS editors want to hear from you! Projects/topics may be anywhere, but architects must be New York-based. The themes:

Spring Issue: Elevating Architecture / Design Literacy for All. Closed.

Summer Issue: AIANY 2009 Design Awards and AIANY/BSA Biennial Design Type Awards. Closed.

Fall Issue: Carbon Neutral Now. The new green frontier, carbon neutrality, researched, explored, planned, and designed at all scales by New York architects.
06.01.09: Suggestion Deadline

Winter Issue: Health & Architecture. Architecture designed to promote fitness, health, and wellness will be profiled. Projects selected from within this growing field will demonstrate sensitivity to generational and demographic issues, sustainability, and technology.
08.01.09: Suggestion Deadline

If you have suggestions, please contact OCULUS editor-in-chief Kristen Richards.

03.31.09 Call for Nominations: CTBUH Chair Search
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) seeks a new chair to oversee its strategic steering and direction in conjunction with the CTBUH Board of Trustees. The position is a two-year tenure, ideally preceded by a one-year position as Vice-Chair/Chair-Elect. There is no fixed profile, but prior involvement in the conception, design, construction, and/or operation of tall buildings is a pre-requisite.

05.15.09 Call for Entries: Maxmix Cities: Celebration of Cities 3
This ideas consultation is open to architects and architecture students internationally. It is a response to the multiple contradictions of contemporary cities: high density and anonymity; man’s distance from nature and his desire to retrieve it; opposition between the urban world and the rural world, between the past and the present. A grand prize of 5,000 Euros will be awarded in each category (students and professionals).

09.04.09 Call for Nominations: MAPA Design 09
The Mid-Atlantic Precast Association (MAPA) announces a new awards competition with two categories to honor architect and student designs that incorporate precast concrete in the mid-Atlantic region. Winners will receive a custom plaque and recognition in a variety of MAPA communications.

Event: Info Session: How to Join a Community Board
Location: Helpern Architects, 01.23.09
Speakers: Shaan Khan — Director of Community Affairs and Constituent Services, Manhattan Borough President’s Office; Margery Perlmutter, AIA — AIANY Public Director & Former Community Board 8 Member; David Helpern, FAIA — Principal, Helpern Architects & Community Board 8 Member
Organizer: David Helpern, FAIA

Governmental reform in NYC’s community boards is needed. There are a high number of vacancies, unbalanced representation, a highly politicized appointment process, unreported conflicts of interest, and many are unaware that community boards exist. The urgency is apparent, as this comes from Shaan Khan, the director of community affairs and constituent services at the Manhattan Borough President’s Office. “Participation is the first step to reform,” Khan stated at a recent discussion encouraging design professionals to join community boards.

There are 600 members in Manhattan’s 12 community boards. With staggered two-year terms, members are residents, work in the area, or otherwise have a significant interest in the neighborhood. Full boards meet once a month, and sub-committees meet more regularly. The boards’ roles range from reviewing land-use proposals, monitoring city services, influencing policy issues, and controlling some of the NYC capital and expense budget. Community boards are the first step in the Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) process as well as budgeting in the city. They have major say in what buildings get built and what changes are made to zoning regulations.

Margery Perlmutter, AIA, was a member of Community Board 8 for six years. She joined after witnessing board members “abusing” architects who were presenting their projects. “Most members have no idea about zoning, buildings, or planning. They make big decisions for people who don’t have a background.” Perlmutter used the Atlantic Yards debacle as an example of the naiveté of board members. This is why it is important for those who have experience and expertise — architects, engineers, and design professionals — to get involved with their neighborhoods, she said.

While the government may be working on de-politicizing the application process, Perlmutter had some words of wisdom for those considering applying. “Filling out the application is just the beginning. You have to jockey for position among the many cliques.” She recommends making appointments with council members, becoming a non-voting public member of sub-committees, making acquaintances with members, and using all of your personal connections to vie for a position.

David Helpern, FAIA, a member of Community Board 8 who cites Perlmutter as integral to his appointment on the board, spent time marketing himself to his board. He kept after council members to meet with him. He made sure the Borough President knew him, asked that committee heads consider him, went to as many community board meetings as possible, and made friends with as many members as possible. When his application came through, the board was already familiar with his qualifications and him, personally.

While the process to get on a community board may be intensive, there are many benefits to sitting on one. They can be used to leverage a future in politics. As the chair of CB 8’s landmarks committee, Perlmutter used her position to vie for and become the commissioner of the Landmarks Commission. Ultimately, the more informed and knowledgeable people in board positions are, the better it is for communities, she stated. Even if the deadline for this year has passed, now is the time to start getting involved to make a significant difference.